COMMUNITY FORUM

Cigarette Smell Coming Through

I live on the second floor of a 3-story condo building. The person below me is a smoker. The smell permiates up through and into my bathroom constantly. I have an exhaust fan and vent in the ceiling. What would be the most effective way to somehow prevent the smell from coming through? Do I just seal the vents off? I have a feeling nothing can be done.

I had the same problem in an apartment I lived in. In older places, the exhaust from central heaters as well as exhaust fans above kitchen stoves, etc. join a common exhaust to the outside. If I was in that situation again, I would check local tenant rights and see if the infiltrating smoke can be construed as an environmental hazard. If so, you might be able to ask the landlord to move to a new apartment without any charges especially if they only have upgraded apartments available. Or, you might have rights to have the landlord require that the tenants adjacent do not smoke indoors. That being said if I was in your situation.

I would if I could, but I own the condo. Unless they're in a common area, I can't do anything about it. For now, I turned the fan from auto to on so it's constantly circulating the air and not allowing the smokey air to settle.

This would seem to indicate that you have a aor connection between you condo and the one below. This is not good from a fire saftey aspect. I would look into thing like plumbing pipes or electircal fixtures.

This test might work for you. Close the door and seal it with a towel at the botom. Close and seal as best you can all the windows. Turn on the fan and use something like a smoke stick or incense around all the openings and see if yo can detect where air is being drawn into the room. Then look for ways to seal these leaks.